The Trip

So Terry pulled out of town the day after Christmas and about four days later we followed.

We first drove to Portland and stayed one night in a hotel. That next day we spent the day at the children's museum and did a lot of swimming. Around 8:30 pm at night we got the kids dressed in jammies and drove to the airport. Nana had come to Portland with us so goodbyes at the airport were pretty hard but actually went better then I expected. The kids and I got all checked in and then waited around for our 10pm flight.

This was the part of the move that I had the most anxiety over! I HATE to fly! I am pretty claustrophobic.  The idea of getting on a narrow metal tube with hundreds of people and being strapped in my seat then SEALED in the tube and launched into the air, where escape is absolutely impossible, makes me slightly, incredibly nervous and anxious!  It seems so trivial and trifling but it is very real to me and seriously stressful. Here I was having to do it alone with my five kids!  No one was there to take over and be cool, calm and collected if I had a hard time, so it just wasn't an option. I did A LOT of praying, even got a blessing that I would be able to do it comfortably and with out fear. It was another testimony builder for me that no matter how silly or seemingly insignificant or even if they are huge, we can turn our challenges over to our Savior when they are too big for us to handle alone, and it works!! I still feel silly that I have a hard time with flying, but its a reality for me and although I didn't "enjoy" the flight I truly wasn't nervous or anxious and the 5 hours went by very quickly.

Because Terry has done so much flying the kids and I were all upgraded to first class for this flight! I thought of it as another blessing. It was an overnight flight and now the kids would have a pretty big seat to snuggle into and sleep. 

This was Janie and Jilli's first flight. We made sure to point out how lucky they were that the first time they have ever been on a plane and they got to sit in first class! Ryan was just sure that it meant that from now on and forever more anytime we get on a plane we will be in first class. He was pretty disappointed when we pointed out that he would probably never sit in first class again, at least not for a long, long time.

Jilli was really nervous about the flight. After we got in the seats she actually started crying that she didn't want to fly on the plane. I was able to talk to her and explain that the flight would be fast and then daddy would be waiting for us as soon as we landed. We said a little prayer together and she promptly fell asleep. She was asleep before we even took off and didn't wake up until we landed. She missed the whole flight :)

They had us pretty spread out within first class. Thankfully a nice man right in front of me offered to trade places with Dalyn so when it was all said and done Jilli and I were in the last two seats and Janie and Raegan were right on front of me, Dalyn was to my left and Ryan was next to with window in the row in front of Dalyn.

The kids were awake for take off then they all fell asleep and really didn't stir until we landed. It was a very uneventful, quiet flight . . . perfect flight!

We landed New Years Eve morning around 5:30 am. We only had a few suitcases and Terry picked us up and drove us to our new home.

We had talked a few days earlier and decided it would be good to have a family "sleepover" in the family room the first night we were in the house. So when Terry unloaded the truck he was driving he put some things in the rooms they belonged in but dumped all the mattresses on the floor in the family room so we could have a sleep over in there.  

We set up some video games and movies for the kids and tried to make it a fun New years eve. Some friends who moved here from the same town in Oregon a few months before us stoped by that afternoon and brought us pizza and donuts and grapes! We appreciated not having to stress out about feeding everyone

I guess their tradition is to eat 20 grapes in 12 seconds for good luck in the new year. It was fun to attempt. Then we had some sparkling cider

The kids exploring the house getting familiar with things . . .

Staying up until midnight was a piece of cake this year. East coast time was midnight but it only felt like 9 to us. We let the kids stay up until they crashed, it ended up being 3 am eastern time, so I guess we rang in the new year with the east coast and the west coast :)

It was a fun night. I hope it was memorable.

Realizing the mess I was surrounded in the next morning was not fun and pretty overwhelming for me. It took a LONG time to dig out of it (still alittle digging left actually).

Those first few days were VERY difficult for me! I had no idea where I was, literally (still don't most of the time)! There are no points of reference here. Nothing is taller then the trees on the side of the road. There are NO mountains and  really no valleys to create a long distance view in any direction. The furthest you can see is about a quarter of a mile at a time. It is rare to be on any rise where you can see a few miles around. I'm not a fan of that. I quickly located a "mountain" within 45 minutes of our house so on days I am feeling particularly "treed in" I can drive to and hike up and can actually get a little bit of a view. I'll post about that later. Over all getting here went great! the adjustment is still in progress. We do know we are supposed to be here and that makes it easier.